A system startup method includes creating a first thread when a kernel driver in a kernel mode detects a first disk partition, reading, in the kernel mode, metadata of the first disk partition using the first thread, and writing the metadata of the first disk partition into a first page cache using the first thread. In the kernel mode, metadata of a disk partition is pre-cached into a page cache using the first thread, and in a subsequent process in a user mode, the metadata of the disk partition is directly read from the page cache. A storage area of the page cache is memory and has a higher read/write operation rate compared with a disk.